ABSTRACT
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is an excellent way to illustrate how facilities should be designed in regard to safety and security because they are the building blocks of a person’s sense of self and ability to succeed with safety in the world. Maslow suggested that it is not likely that an individual can progress to the next rung or level on the hierarchy without satisfying the one before and that with which the person is concerned. The two bottom rungs—physiological and safety—are basic needs concerning being adequately fed and sheltered. Safety and security in the facilities context belong in the bottom two rungs of Maslow’s model, being basic needs of keeping oneself alive and sheltered securely to be able to sleep without constant fear of compromise. The theory suggests that without satisfying natural impulses such as fear and hunger, humans cannot move on to any other aspirations such as relationship building, ego satisfaction, and dreams.
